'Dreamers' see December as their last chance at a DACA deal

A group of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and advocates for the Dream Act wait to speak with Congressmen in the cafeteria of the Longworth Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. on December 5, 2017. Many in the group drove 40 hours across the United States from Arizona to Washington to advocate for Dream Act legislation.(Photo: Megan Janetsky/The Republic)

WASHINGTON – A group of Arizona "dreamers" huddled outside the U.S. Capitol Monday night.

Every few minutes, when they spotted a member of Congress, they snapped into action, approaching the lawmaker to talk about their support for Dream Act legislation.

Some lawmakers stopped to chat. Others continued without slowing and with little acknowledgment.

As the hours passed, a brisk breeze added to the chill of the 40-degree night, sending shivers through the group.

I'm here "to pretty much put a face out to the people who don't know our story, to show them that we're wanting to stay here, to better ourselves, to better our people, to better our country. And just personally, to say I contributed," said Susana Nava, who lives in Phoenix and has a work permit and protection from deportation under the soon-to-expire Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Nava and the other dreamers and their allies had, in some cases, packed 10 people to a van on Friday night to make the 40-hour drive to Washington, D.C.

Their goal: make a connection with as many of the 535 members of Congress as possible.

Immigration advocates are mounting an all-out push to get Congress to pass a version of the Dream Act before the end of December out of fear it presents the last opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to strike a deal over the contentious issue.

Nearly 700,000 dreamers —undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — begin losing the temporary protection from deportation provided by DACA in March. But the dreamers see negotiations this month over measures required to keep the government funded as the last, best chance to see Congress address their tenuous immigration status.

On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a stop-gap measure, passed by Congress on Thursday, to extend government funding through Dec. 22, hours before a deadline to partially shut down the federal government, giving dreamers hope that a deal is still possible this month.

"For me and many dreamers across the nation, it’s really important that we have Dream Act legislation by the end of this year," said Reyna Montoya, a 27-year-old dreamer from Gilbert, brought to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 13.

March 5 deadline

Montoya, director of Aliento, a dreamer advocacy group, organized dreamers from Arizona, Kansas, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, North Carolina and Texas to travel to Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, thousands of supporters plan to rally at the U.S. Capitol calling on Congress to pass dreamer legislation before year's end.

Others planned sit-ins this week at local congressional offices in at least 14 states.

Seven protesters were arrested Monday at Republican Sen. John McCain's central Phoenix office. And similar actions were planned at the Phoenix office of Sen. Jeff Flake, and the Tucson office of Rep. Martha McSally, both Republicans. McSally is expected to seek the seat of the retiring Flake.

Immigration advocates also sent text messages asking supporters to "help immigrant families stay together this holiday season" by calling members of Congress to ask them to support dreamer legislation.

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Opinion polls have long suggested that most Americans want to protect 'dreamers,'theyoung undocumented immigrants who have spent most of their lives in this country.But those protections have been slow to materialize. Consider the timeline: Photo by Tom Tingle/The Republic

2001: The first Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (Dream) Act — the legislation that gave 'dreamers' their name — is introduced to offer a path to citizenship for immigrants who were brought here illegally as children. It fails, as do subsequent versions. Nick Oza/The Republic

2010: The Dream Act of 2010 gets closer than previous attempts to passing but dies in the Senate. It offers a path to citizenship if young immigrants complete two years of college or serve in the military and complete a background check, among other requirements. Nick Oza/The Republic

2017: Attorneys general threaten to sue if Trump does not rescind DACA. The president sets a 2018 expiration date for the program, despite pleas from some Republican lawmakers and business leaders to wait, and calls on Congress to pass a fix for dreamers. David Wallace/The Republic

2017: A revised, bipartisan version of the Dream Act is introduced, but no action was taken before the end of the year. The bill offers permanent legal status to dreamers who enroll in college, join the military or find a job, among other requirements. Sam Greene

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In September, Trump's administration announced he would end DACA. Former President Barack Obama created the program in 2012 to shield undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from deportation. Nearly 800,000 people have received deportations protections through the program.

Trump gave Congress until March 5 to find a permanent solution. After that, about 1,000 people will begin losing DACA protections daily, according to some estimates.

In addition to protection from deportation, immigrants approved for DACA are allowed to work legally in the U.S., as well as apply for driver's licenses. In many states, including Arizona, DACA recipients stand to lose their eligibility for in-statute tuition at public colleges and universities once the program ends.

There are currently 689,800 immigrants in the country protected under the DACA program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that administers the program.

Of those, about 548,000, or 79.4 percent, are from Mexico. Nearly 200,000, or 28.7 percent, of the total, live in California, the state with the highest number of DACA recipients, followed by Texas, with 113,000; Illinois, with 35,600; New York, with 32,900; Florida with 32,900; and Arizona, with 25,500.

'Best point of leverage'

Immigrant advocates want Congress to pass a "stand alone" immigration bill known as the Dream Act that would allow hundreds of thousands of dreamers to gain permanent legal status and eventually citizenship.

Democrats generally support the Dream Act, while Republicans are divided with some Republicans favoring less-generous versions and others outright opposed to granting any form of legal status to dreamers, calling it amnesty for lawbreakers.

December offers what may be dreamers' best opportunity to get Congress to pass immigration legislation because Republicans, who control Congress, will need votes from some Democrats to pass a spending bill before the end of the year to avoid a government shutdown, said Frank Sharry, director of America's Voice, an advocacy group pushing for legislation to protect dreamers.

House Democratic leaders have seized on that leverage. They are insisting Republicans include the Dream Act as part of a spending bill in exchange for their votes to avoid a shutdown, which Democrats believe could prove embarrassing for Republicans since they control Congress, Sharry said.

December "is our best point of leverage, when we are going to get our best deal when it comes to DACA," said U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, R-Arizona, one of the main supporters of the Dream Act in the House. "From our conversations with (Democratic) leadership and from our conversations with other DACA organizations, everyone seems to be pointing that this is the time to get a deal and if we wait longer" chances are Democrats will get a "worse deal."

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said a DACA fix should not be attached to a spending bill because the two issues are not related and there is still time for committees in Congress to hash out a bipartisan consensus before DACA expires in March.

“There is no real rush to get it done by the end of the year as there is with spending,” Vaughan said. The Center for Immigration Studies is a think tank that supports reductions in immigration and increases in immigration enforcement.

Ellie Perez, seen here in 2014, is an aide to Phoenix Councilwoman Kate Gallego. With DACA status, she was able to attend full-time, get an associate’s degreeand become the first person in her family to attenda four-year university. The Republic

Reyna Montoya, 26, came to the U.S. at age 13. She founded Aliento, which advocates for young migrant children, in 2016. DACA gave Montoya the chance to earn an education, she said. Dianna M. Náñez/The Republic

Thomas Kim, 25, came to the U.S. with his family legally 12 years ago from South Korea. An unscrupulous immigration attorney botched their case, he said. Kim is finishing his last year of law school and works at a public defender's office in Phoenix. Nick Oza/The Republic

Francisco Luna, an advocate with the organization Trans Queer Pueblo, came to the U.S. when he was 11. DACA allowed him to work, buy a car and help take care of his relatives. He said he has filed and paid taxes for several years now. Dianna M. Náñez/The Republic

Julio Zuñiga, 27, was 5 when he came from Mexico to Arizona with his parents in 1996. DACA allowed Zuñigato begin working as a mortgage loan officer, and he has paid more than $10,000 in taxes over the course of his career, he said. Laura Gómez/The Republic

Immigration attorney Daniel Rodriguez, 31, had DACA status until he became a legal resident in 2015. He said he had started law school in 2008 but had to take a break from 2009-2012 because he couldn’t afford out-of-state tuition. Maria Polletta/The Republic

Carla Chavarria, 24, has DACA status until November and is waiting to see if her application for renewal has been approved. DACA allowed Chavarria to start her own digital-marketing business. She also launched activewear line Ganaz with fellow dreamer Máxima Guerrero last year. Cheryl Evans/The Republic

Maria Cruz Ramirez, who does not have legal status, is the mother of three DACA recipients. She said her son recently bought a home. Without DACA, it's uncertain whether he'll be able to keep it, she said. Laura Gómez/The Republic

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'This is the time'

But getting a DACA deal in December may be tough, or even impossible.

As of Monday, House Republicans were considering a two-week stopgap continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 22.

In the Senate, Flake and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., have put together a bipartisan “Gang of Six” — four Republicans and two Democrats — to come up with a bipartisan solution that can gain 60 votes, the supermajority needed to clear Senate procedural hurdles.

Jason Samuels, a Flake spokesman, confirmed the group’s existence but wouldn’t reveal the other senators involved. McCain is not involved with the group.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the Judiciary Committee chairman, and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, also have a group working on the DACA issue and announced legislation on Tuesday.

That bill includes an array of border-security and enforcement provisions that could make reaching the 60-vote threshold difficult in the 100-member chamber that Republicans control with just 52 seats.

"Our plan takes meaningful steps to end the lawlessness and tragedies at the hands of dangerous criminal aliens throughout our country," Grassley said. "We do this by cracking down on sanctuary cities, ending the misguided catch-and-release policies of the previous administration, and, finally, taking real steps to address intentional visa overstays."

Flake is calling for a compromise.

"Despite the sense of urgency to solve the problem by the end of the year, there's very little legislative progress to show for it," Flake said Tuesday on the Senate floor. "The time has come for us to work together to deliver a real solution. We don't need partisan bills that send a message; we need bipartisan solutions that can pass the Senate."

Flake said Friday that he had agreed to vote for President Trump's tax-cut bill in exchange for assurance from Vice President Mike Pence that he could be involved in coming up with a permanent solution for dreamers.

Flake, however, did not say whether the assurances were to negotiate a deal this year or merely to try to come up with a solution before the DACA program expires in March 5.

Democrats fear Republicans will have less impetus to bring up the divisive issue after the new year, if a government spending bill issue has been passed, or that Republicans will try and pass a less-generous version loaded up with other provisions such as funding Trump's proposed border wall, increasing spending on immigration enforcement, and reducing legal legal immigration by eliminating some family-based visa categories.

What's more, some Republicans in Congress also may be reluctant to vote for immigration legislation after the new year out of fear it could open them to attacks in upcoming Republican primaries, Gallego said.

If Congress waits until March, "there could be a lot of other issues that come up in between" now and then, Gallego said. "There could be a lot of Republicans who do not want to do a DACA fix only a few months away from their primary."

"Really at the end of the day, this is the time we told our DACA recipients this was going to get taken care of and it's time for us to follow through," Gallego said.

An uncertain future

Montoya, the dreamer from Arizona, said the closer it gets to the March 5 deadline, the greater the chance undocumented immigrants with DACA will lose their protections.

Once Congress acts, it could take months for the government to implement the legislation, she said. Her own DACA protection expires in October 2018.

Stephanie Corcoran, a Phoenix immigration lawyer who is also president of the Arizona chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said she represents about 75 DACA recipients.

She has been meeting with them individually to review their cases to see if they qualify for any other way to legalize their status or to help them prepare in case they are picked up by immigration authorities and placed in deportation proceedings.

"I'm letting my clients know their rights. Letting them know what to do. Making sure the people who have families have a plan of action" including creating a power-of-attorney authorizing a relative or friend to care for their children, Corcoran said.